First, understand: What exactly is bio-manufacturing?
In simple terms, bio-manufacturing is an advanced production method that completely transforms traditional fossil-based industries—instead of relying on non-renewable resources like oil and coal, it uses microorganisms, cells, enzymes, and other biological entities as "living factories" to produce the goods we need.
The most fundamental difference from traditional manufacturing lies in its entirely green and low-carbon supply chain: raw materials such as straw, waste cooking oil, and carbon dioxide are renewable resources; the production process generates almost no high pollution or emissions; and the resulting products are mostly biodegradable and recyclable. From the biodegradable straws in your hand to hyaluronic acid in skincare products, and from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines to bio-based aviation fuel for airplanes, these are all essentially products of biological manufacturing.
The key to unlocking the core of biological manufacturing lies in synthetic biology. In simple terms, it involves editing and reprogramming microbial genes—much like an engineer designs a machine—to transform ordinary cells into "micro-factories" capable of precisely producing target substances.
Currently, the industry generally divides biomanufacturing into four core areas:
Bio-based chemicals and materials: such as biodegradable plastics like polylactic acid and bio-nylon, replacing petroleum-based plastic products
Core strains and enzyme preparations: the "chip" of bio-manufacturing, determining production efficiency and cost
Synthetic biology: foundational technologies such as artificial cell construction, bio-synthetic food, and DNA synthesis
Bioenergy: using waste cooking oil to produce bio-jet fuel, straw for fuel ethanol, and biological hydrogen production, among others.
First, take a look at the report card: During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's bio-manufacturing achieved these accomplishments
The 14th Five-Year Plan marks a pivotal five-year period for China's biomanufacturing industry, transitioning from technological accumulation to large-scale development, achieving breakthrough progress across the entire chain—from policy and scale to technology and industry.
Policy顶层设计 has been comprehensively upgraded and elevated to a national core strategy.
In 2024, bio-manufacturing was included for the first time in the government work report, officially becoming a core strategic sector. Since then, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission have successively introduced policies to launch initiatives for cultivating pilot-scale platforms and identifying and certifying the first batch of landmark products. By the end of 2025, more than 20 provinces across China had released specialized plans for bio-manufacturing. In 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially initiated the formulation of the "15th Five-Year Plan" for Bio-Manufacturing Development, establishing a comprehensive policy framework characterized by national coordination and local collaboration.
The industry's scale remains the world's largest, with a 1.1 trillion market continuously expanding.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's bio-manufacturing industry surpassed a total scale of 1.1 trillion yuan, with bioprocessing products accounting for over 70% of global production and maintaining its leading position worldwide. In specific segments, the annual output value of food and additives, as well as biopharmaceuticals, exceeded 400 billion yuan; the output value of bioprocessing increased by approximately 20% compared to the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan; emerging fields such as polylactic acid, hyaluronic acid, and synthetic starch have achieved parity or even leadership over developed countries, with bio-based materials recording an annual compound growth rate exceeding 15%.
Technological innovation capabilities have significantly improved, with patents accounting for over 20% of the global share.
China accounts for over 20% of global patent applications in the field of bio-manufacturing, has established a number of national key laboratories and industrial innovation platforms, and achieved industrial breakthroughs in core equipment such as domestically produced high-throughput gene sequencers and large-scale intelligent fermentation tanks. In foundational synthetic biology technologies, original achievements have been continuously made in areas including gene editing, cell factory construction, and AI-assisted biological design, laying the initial foundation for an end-to-end innovation system spanning basic research to applied development.
Industrial clusters have taken shape, with leading enterprises flourishing across the region.
China has now developed a differentiated industrial layout, avoiding excessive competition and instead focusing on distinct strengths in various sectors.
Beijing, Shanghai, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: home to over 70% of China's top scientific research resources, serving as a hub for industrial innovation.
Shandong, Heilongjiang, and Henan: Have established the world's largest manufacturing base for bulk bio-fermented products.
Tianjin, Chongqing, and Jiangsu: Focusing on technology transfer and pilot-scale platform development, these regions serve as core hubs for industrial implementation. Meanwhile, the industry has cultivated a number of leading enterprises with annual revenues exceeding 10 billion yuan, along with dozens of national-level manufacturing champions and specialized, sophisticated "little giants," resulting in an increasingly mature industrial ecosystem.
Don't just focus on performance; these critical bottlenecks must be overcome during the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Despite impressive achievements, China's bio-manufacturing industry still faces four critical bottlenecks that must be overcome to move up the global value chain—challenges that will require determined effort during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
90% dependent on grain raw materials, facing dual pressures of cost and safety
Currently, over 90% of biomanufacturing projects in China use grain-based raw materials such as corn starch, while the utilization rate of non-grain feedstocks like straw and carbon dioxide remains below 5%. This directly results in raw material costs accounting for more than 60% of total production costs, significantly compressing profit margins. At the same time, the large-scale use of grain-based materials poses potential risks to food security, making it the primary constraint on industry development.
The "death valley" from lab to factory, with a success rate of less than 10%
This is the industry's most vexing "Darwinian paradox": high-performance engineered bacteria developed in the lab often suffer from poor environmental tolerance and a sharp drop in metabolic efficiency when transferred to large-scale fermentation tanks in factories. The success rate of scaling up from lab to industrial production is less than 10%. Numerous original scientific breakthroughs get stuck at this stage, unable to leave the lab and transform into real industrial competitiveness.
Purification costs account for 40%, making commercialization difficult even with the best technology.
Many high-end products in bio-manufacturing, such as bio-based material monomers, require purity levels exceeding 99.9%. However, the traditional separation and purification processes currently used in the industry account for over 40% of total production costs, making even technically advanced products uncompetitive in price and significantly delaying commercialization. Additionally, the sector faces challenges including a lack of high-value-added products, structural oversupply in mid- to low-end capacity, and lengthy market entry procedures for new products.
Core upstream technologies are still being "strangled"
Our strengths lie in downstream fermentation production and application expansion, but there are still significant weaknesses at the upstream core stage: high-end equipment and foundational technologies such as gene editing tools, core bio-design software, large-scale biological databases, and high-throughput DNA synthesizers remain largely dependent on imports. Currently, the United States is accelerating the development of a closed-loop "design-manufacture" supply chain, which is putting pressure on China's industrial chain. Achieving full autonomy and control across the entire chain has thus become an urgent necessity.
How to achieve the 15th Five-Year Plan? Five core pathways have been set.
The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a critical window for China's bio-manufacturing industry to transition from scale expansion to quality improvement, and from following and keeping pace with global leaders to taking the lead worldwide. The key lies in focusing on five core directions to build a fully independent and controllable industrial system across the entire value chain.
Top-level design first, clearing institutional obstacles
Accelerate the release of the "15th Five-Year Plan for Biomanufacturing Development," clearly defining the core goals, key tasks, and technological breakthrough roadmap for industrial advancement. Introduce targeted support policies focusing on critical areas such as intellectual property protection, technology transfer, attracting high-end talent, and financial incentives. At the same time, optimize the market access and safety evaluation systems for new products, streamline approval procedures, and remove barriers to the implementation of innovative outcomes.
Tackling the toughest challenges: Full-chain technological breakthroughs to achieve self-reliance and control
Targeting industry pain points, implementing major science and technology initiatives to achieve breakthroughs in four core technologies:
Bottom-up technological autonomy: Promoting deep integration of biotechnology and AI, building bio-databases and intelligent design platforms with independent intellectual property rights.
Core strain and enzyme formulation breakthrough: Developing high-performance chassis cells compatible with industrial production environments to overcome the "chip" challenge in bio-manufacturing
Domestication of high-end equipment: independently developing core devices such as high-throughput DNA synthesizers and intelligent bioreactors to reduce reliance on imports
Breakthrough in non-grain raw material technology: establishing an efficient utilization system for renewable feedstocks such as crop straw and carbon dioxide, fundamentally overcoming raw material constraints.
Breaking through bottlenecks: Building pilot platforms to accelerate the implementation of research outcomes
Pilot-scale testing is the only pathway to bridge the gap between "laboratory and factory." During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will accelerate the construction of a number of general-purpose pilot platforms nationwide, offering small and medium-sized enterprises as well as research institutes full-chain services covering "strain design – process validation – product certification." The goal is to shorten the technology transformation cycle from over ten years in the past to just 3–5 years, significantly improving the rate of scientific and technological achievements conversion.
Unleash the Potential: Bringing Biomanufacturing into Every Industry
Promote deep integration between bio-manufacturing and industries such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, energy, agriculture, and aerospace. Develop major strategic products including bio-based aviation fuel, biodegradable materials, innovative biopharmaceuticals, alternative proteins, and biopesticides, and establish a new generation of bio-manufacturing product systems. At the same time, accelerate the development of low-carbon evaluation standards for bio-based products, promote their inclusion in the national carbon trading market, and enhance product price competitiveness through market mechanisms such as carbon revenue and tax incentives, enabling bio-manufacturing to truly replace traditional high-energy-consuming industries.
One Nation, One Chessboard: Building Differentiated World-Class Industrial Clusters
Taking the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as core strategic fulcrums, we will establish pilot zones for innovation and concentration, avoiding homogenized competition.
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei: Leverage the collaborative strength of "Beijing for R&D, Tianjin and Hebei for transformation" to build an integrated cross-regional industrial ecosystem
Yangtze River Delta: Leveraging a strong industrial foundation and an active capital market, building a full lifecycle development system from technology research and development to commercialization.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area aims to become a global innovation hub, implementing systematic, end-to-end breakthroughs while leveraging industrial foundations in major provinces such as Shandong and Heilongjiang to establish a secure base for bulk bio-manufacturing products, thereby forming a nationwide industrial landscape characterized by differentiated positioning and coordinated development.
Getting a head start on the 15th Five-Year Plan, these regions have already begun moving forward.
Before the curtain on the 15th Five-Year Plan has even risen, China's three major core economic zones have already made early moves, establishing distinctive development models that serve as examples for national industrial growth.
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei: Cross-regional Collaboration to Address the Disconnect Between R&D and Production
In January 2025, the three regions of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei jointly established the Synthetic Biology Manufacturing Industry Innovation Alliance and signed the "Synthetic Biology Manufacturing Partner Park Initiative," establishing a clear division of roles: Beijing focuses on fundamental research and technological innovation, Tianjin builds a research and development-to-commercialization system, and Hebei serves as the raw material and production base. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's branches in the three regions have provided nearly 10 billion yuan in preliminary credit lines to related enterprises. Many companies have already achieved efficient collaboration through "R&D in Beijing, production in Hebei," completely breaking down previous barriers to cross-regional cooperation.
Yangtze River Delta: Full-chain cultivation, dual-wheel drive of capital and industry
The three provinces and one municipality in the Yangtze River Delta have all launched programs to foster future industries, with biomanufacturing identified as a core focus. Their key advantage lies in market-oriented, end-to-end development. In terms of funding, Changzhou has established a 2-billion-yuan special fund for synthetic biology. On the industrial front, Taizhou is leading the construction of the "Tai-Lian-Xi" national advanced manufacturing cluster for biopharmaceuticals, building a full-chain service system from strain development to commercial production. At the platform level, Jiangsu has created a comprehensive lifecycle cultivation system—spanning technological innovation, application-driven development, enterprise incubation, and industrial agglomeration—to ensure scientific achievements can be rapidly connected to the market.
Greater Bay Area: Setting firm goals, a systematic push for 500 billion yuan in output value
In January 2025, Guangdong released the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of Guangdong as a National Hub for Bio-Manufacturing Innovation," setting clear quantitative targets: by 2027, the industry's total output value will reach 500 billion yuan, with self-reliance in core microbial strains reaching 40%; by 2035, the total output value will surpass one trillion yuan. The plan also outlines seven innovation initiatives covering the entire industrial chain—from cutting-edge technology breakthroughs and independent development of core strains to advanced equipment and raw material security—and clearly defines integration pathways such as "bio-manufacturing + pharmaceuticals" and "bio-manufacturing + chemicals." It is currently the most comprehensive and goal-oriented regional special program nationwide.
Conclusion: Biomanufacturing is the core of manufacturing transformation in the next 30 years.
Globally, bio-manufacturing has triggered a comprehensive green revolution in manufacturing. McKinsey predicts that, in principle, 60% of industrial products worldwide could be produced using bio-manufacturing methods; over the next 10 to 20 years, bio-manufacturing is expected to directly generate approximately $4 trillion in economic value; by the end of the 21st century, it could create up to $30 trillion in economic value—accounting for one-third of global manufacturing output.
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period represents a critical window of opportunity for us to seize the commanding heights of this future industry. Only by placing independent innovation at the core and removing bottlenecks across the entire chain—from laboratory to factory—can we truly empower biomanufacturing to transform countless industries. This will enable China to take the initiative in global industrial transformation, providing essential support for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, while also fostering a trillion-dollar growth engine for the Chinese economy.
